In the medical and health care fields, it is commonly desirable to obtain a urine specimen from an individual. Conventionally, urine collection devices are containers with a small opening, and it is commonly a problem for women to provide a specimen in such containers. A variety of different types of devices have been patented in efforts to address this problem. None, however, enjoys commercial success in modern medical facilities.
Since as early as the 1930's, efforts have been made to design funnel-like devices that can be attached to a specimen container to facilitate use by women. Dwork, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,928,170; Hill, 3,131,403; Gibson, 3,171,136 all show early efforts at such devices.
Whitney et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,811,136, and Burnett, 4,559,649, hint that one problem with such early funnels was that their bulky shape made them uncomfortable for women to use properly. The solution by Whitney et al. was to provide a collapsible funnel that is "soft enough to conform to the GU area"(col. 1, lines 31-32). The less-costly solution proposed by Barnett was to "compensat[e] for [women's] difficulty by following the natural contours of the perineum allowing the funnel to be placed closely to the subject's body."(Col. 4, line 68-col. 5 line 2). While Barnett proposed to accomplish a better fit by configuring the funnel with parallel lateral sides that curve upwardly (col. 4, lines 50-63), her design has not found widespread acceptance.
Even more recently, it has been proposed to abandon efforts to help women to provide urine specimens in the same kind of small containers that men conventionally use, and instead to provide a larger container that can be more easily used by women. Jones, U.S. Pat No. 5,422,076, discloses such a device. However, physicians are likely to be unwilling to stock two separate types of specimen jars, or to ask their male patients to use larger and more-expensive jars.